The office. For many people, it’s the place where the stress of home is replaced by the stress of work (they say a change is as good as a rest!) If you find that you are working longer hours than you’d hoped, there are a few simple ways to look after yourself, right at your desk.
From combatting one of the more prevalent so-called ‘office diseases’ to lowering our stress levels, here’s what you can do about the effect that long hours can have on your body.
Blue Light Glasses
Blue light glasses can help cut out the negative effects of blue light (see EyeBuyDirect for options).
There has been much talk in recent years of blue light. We all know we need to reduce our intake, but few of us understand what it is or what we need to remove it.
Blue light is present in all normal white light sources. White light contains all the other colors. That can be hard to understand because mixing all the other colors together when finger painting as children gives us a mess. Not clean pure white. But a brown mushy mess. However, facts are facts and blue light is hidden in white light sources.
Our phone screens, laptops, and tablets spit blue light at us all day long, and that’s a problem for our eyes. Blue light penetrates deep into the eye and disrupts the cells right at the back of our eyeballs. Too much disruption can lead to serious issues with vision. That’s why business people who know they have got many long working hours ahead of them should look into the benefits of blue light glasses.
Just in the same way that you might shield your eyes with sunglasses from the harmful effects of UV rays while outdoors, blue light glasses offer protection from our screens.
Eat a lemon (or an orange)
Long hours can result in stress. While stress is an umbrella term we all understand, at its core is something chemical that many of us may not understand yet. Cortisol. It’s a hormone made in the adrenal glands and the body floods us with it when we’re stressed. Technically, it’s a good thing. Cortisol allows us to perform better by temporarily sharpening our senses and getting our muscles ready to do something. But too much unspent cortisol is like turning up the heat on the oven for too long. The results aren’t pretty.
You can minImise the effects of cortisol (which include impaired brain function and tiredness) by following a few simple tips in the office. They include reducing our caffeine and sugar intake while increasing our consumption of cortisol-lowering foods such as black and green tea, fruits high in vitamin C, and dark chocolate.
If you don’t have the time to go for a walk in the park, you can also look online for ways to seek a more calm mind. For example, check out this list of websites to visit.
